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U.S. Officials Ask How ISIS Got So Many Toyota Trucks
It is perhaps the most vexing of questions: why is it that whenever you see photos or video of ISIS driving around in their Mad Max-esque technicals with black flags, the vehicle seems to always be a Toyota?
Does Uber require its drivers moonlighting for ISIS to use Toyotas instead of black town cars? Does Toyota pay ISIS a promotional/product placement fee? Does Craigslist Iraq (no freaking way, there is a Craigslist for Iraq) just have a huge Toyota subsection? Is Toyota secretly supporting ISIS?
Those very questions are on the minds of America’s crack anti-terror warriors.U.S. officials are indeed inquiring why ISIS has acquired a large number of Toyota vehicles, ABC News reports on a slow day when no one on TV at least is calling the president the N-word. Toyota-made pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles have been featured prominently in a number of ISIS propaganda videos used in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, according to ABC. Vehicles shown include the Hilux and the Land Cruiser.
“ISIS has used these vehicles in order to engage in military-type activities, terror activities, and the like,” former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mark Wallace, apparently the only ex-government official who picked up over the weekend for a quote, told ABC News. “But in nearly every ISIS video, they show a fleet – a convoy of Toyota vehicles and that’s very concerning to us.”
Is Wallace saying to ISIS they better “buy American?” Is Wallace in the tank for ISIS? I don’t know.Anyway, Toyota said in a statement to Autoblog that it has a strict policy not to sell vehicles to groups who may use them for terrorism, but notes that it can’t control if its vehicles are re-sold, stolen, or repurposed after they leave dealerships.
So, jot that down, ISIS people reading this. If you roll into your local Toyota dealership and, along with the rustproofing, extended warranty and upgraded sound system, you also ask for a 20mm cannon to be mounted in the back, the dealer may balk, or at least try and talk you into the Bitcoin payment plan.
“We are committed to complying fully with the laws and regulations of each country or region where we operate, and require our dealers and distributors to do the same,” Toyota’s statement says. “We are supporting the U.S. Treasury Department’s broader inquiry into international supply chains and the flow of capital and goods in the Middle East.”
BONUS: The actual answer is there are just a whole lot of Japanese vehicles in the Middle East. The Japanese have opened a bunch of dealerships there for one. The other reason is that people in Japan trade-in vehicles regularly on newer models, and the used car market there is weak. So, Japanese cars are exported en masse to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, even North Korea, to basically dump them for at least some profit. And so now you know…
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John Poole said...
1VW should buy all their diesel equipped cars here in the US and “redeploy” them to markets where pollution rules are less stringent. Toyota’s days of dominance in the ISIS market may soon be over. Next? The J.C. Whitney catalogue offering after market roof racks reinforced to handle rocket launchers! Damn, war opens some wonderful business opportunities.
05/12/16 8:37 AM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
2quote”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7liPC-k8iW0The Japanese have opened a bunch of dealerships there for one. The other reason is that people in Japan trade-in vehicles regularly on newer models, and the used car market there is weak. So, Japanese cars are exported en masse to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, even North Korea, to basically dump them for at least some profit. And so now you know…”unquote
Ya mean ..like these Japanese cars?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7liPC-k8iW0
Often wondered what they did with all these cars. 🙂
John Poole said…
“VW should buy all their diesel equipped cars here in the US and “redeploy” them to markets where pollution rules are less stringent. ”
Haha. Perfect. Eventually, all American cars will be leased autonomous non driver cars. We’ll have a backlog of “normal” cars to sell to Cuba/So. America for generations to come. Thank god I’m not going to be around to see that day though. The thoughts of freeways and roads filled with robotic car makes me sick. Even if they do save lives. One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was driving little ole backroads and towns through the Sierra’s in California, Oregon and Washington. But those days will be over within a decade. Too bad. Ah..but progress.
Like AI. Orwell would faint.
Insert rolling eye smiley here.
05/12/16 11:28 AM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
3Fun fact: my old car probably went to North Korea. When I was at the US embassy in Tokyo, we had a bunch of pass along cars. Nobody stayed in country for more than a few years, and our diplomatic vehicles were exempted from Japan’s tough inspection rules. So, a lot of near-junkers got passed down from one’s predecessor to you for a few bucks. The one I had finally reached the end of its lifespan, and the only way to get rid of it was to sell it to a dealer in such things. I asked if he was going to junk it for scrap value, and he said “Oh no, I can make more sending it to North Korea. They’ll either use it, or use it for parts.” Of course, he must have been kidding, right?
05/12/16 11:32 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4ISiS thinks American cars come with tracking devices . HaHa those stupid ISIS people.. Such paranoids.
05/12/16 12:49 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
5Peter- you probably feel horrible knowing that the battery and cigarette lighter circuit from your old junker are now probably being used by NK interrogators to elicit confessions from brave dissidents. But what the hell- how could you have known?
05/12/16 1:24 PM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
6The dealer had to jump start my car to drive it away, so I think the battery was pretty much shot, and my conscience is OK.
05/12/16 1:36 PM | Comment Link
Bruce said...
7Israel KNOW$ A DEAL !
05/12/16 2:09 PM | Comment Link
Patricia said...
8“It is perhaps the most vexing of questions: why is it that whenever you see photos or video of ISIS driving around in their Mad Max-esque technicals with black flags, the vehicle seems to always be a Toyota?”
I just figured the media were recycling the same photo and video, as needed.
05/12/16 8:52 PM | Comment Link
bloodypitchfork said...
9There’s one thing I can honestly say about Toyota’s. At least the older ones. They run FOREVER…given you maintain them. Case in point. My father-in-law, bought a brand new 1986 Toyota S-1 pickup with a SR-2 engine. Greatest truck since the Model T pickup and the best engine ever built. He drove it until he was too old to drive anymore, in 2002. He gave it to me. It had 150k miles on it. I drove it until May 2013, when it blew a timing chain. I sold it and STILL got a whopping $1k for it, as those S-1’s are in high demand.
I used the money to buy a 1982 Toyota Station wagon, from a guy who bought it new. Perfect condition. Reason…he was the local Toyota dealer head mechanic. Maintenance by the book. I still own and drive it daily. The only bad thing is…I towed it to Michigan when I moved. Within 3 years, the body is now a rust bucket. fuk. But runs like a champ. So..I’m pulling the engine and selling it. This is a 3T-c which Toyota actually designed as a race engine. They’re going for close to $2k now. So..all in all.. I’ve driven these cars for almost free, for over 10 yrs. I just wish I could find another S-1 pickup. Ain’t gonna happen though. NO one sells them. They drive them till they die. No wonder ISIS chose Toyota.
05/13/16 6:08 AM | Comment Link
U.S. Officials Ask How ISIS Got So Many Toyota Trucks http://wemean… | Dr. Roy Schestowitz (罗伊) said...
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05/13/16 7:35 AM | Comment Link
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05/13/16 10:26 AM | Comment Link
Don Quixote said...
12Heeeyyy, if we ever capture any intact, see if the local dealer has a clean chain of custody.
Honest Al-s used technical “show me the money”
05/14/16 4:06 PM | Comment Link
jhoover said...
13Peter,
It is perhaps the most vexing of questions: why is it that whenever you see photos or video of ISIS driving around in their Mad Max-esque technicals with black flags, the vehicle seems to always be a Toyota?
This one of the many things needs to be addressed.
Peter, we know now US and Russia and Iraqi Army all fighting ISIL in Iraq and Al-sham.
All photos show their fighters with Afghani/Pakistani dress in black, all faces were faceless, I mean, if they are fighting for God (as in Jihad), then they have nothing to be afraid of. I’ve never seen fighters of God be afraid of being recognized throughout history. They should be proud of what they do.
Few shown their ugly face for example Al-Baghdadi himself does not cover his face, neither did the senior leader and spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.
When reported there were killed a group of Isil in attacked of with whatever army we seen bodys lying on the ground with faces down with military dress is!!
So were the truth here, is it those black flag and Afghani/Pakistani dress for military with 4WD Toyota is it military show or at battlefield?
There is another aspect of ISIL which using Orang/ Blue execution dress for their captives, just like those in western prisoner and criminal dress, we know these “Islamic” radicals who forbid using “western” tool or dressing like them as their believes why then using western execution dress?
Btw, how many westerner who fought with ISIL and that Journalist who were in Syria undercover telling what life under ISIL, all did not telling us about these things?
05/14/16 4:55 PM | Comment Link
jhoover said...
14ISiS thinks American cars come with tracking devices . HaHa those stupid ISIS people.. Such paranoids.
You think so?
Did they use Samrt phone? I dout not, what about the internet?
Did you hear the latest that ISIS Targeting Children? Launches App for Kids to Learn Arabic using Tank and other bit teach Arabic?
Oh yah the Internet so hard to be tracked, were NCA or other intelligences and spice devises
05/14/16 5:05 PM | Comment Link